The Elaborate Outsourcing of The Color Slot

Written by Tony Adams Friday, 16 October 2009 09:32

Last night I went to see The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity at Victory Gardens. It was one of the shows at at the top of my list to see. In the decade I've been here, I've never heard anyone talk about a show at Victory Gardens they way I was hearing things about this one.

In the interest of full-disclosure, I'm usually not a big fan of VG's shows as they tend to typify the middle-brow deadly theatre Peter Brook was railing against in the 60's. (I'll admit I missed Blackbird.) Something was different and I couldn't tell why.

One night Charin Alvarez (one of my favorite people in Chicago Theatre) came to see Lorca in a Green Dress, and when I was talking to her after the show I asked her what Teatro Vista was up to next. She looked at me a bit quizzically and said "oh, you know, Chad Deity." Not once had I heard Vista brought up with it. I had no idea it was a co-production. Apparently no one does, as none of the reviews have mentioned it either. I thought that was odd.

Last night as I waited for the house to open, I was pretty excited to see it. Then my heart sank a bit. The Saints were there. Wearing fucking sombreros. The house manager came out and rang a bell and made an announcement, trying to ape a big-time wrastler, that the house was now open.

"God help me", I thought, "it's going to be one of those nights."

I was thinking of that when, as the show was about to start, I looked around and something seemed off. It didn't seem like a Victory Gardens show. Not like what I expected.

Then Eddie Torres walked in and sat down the row from me. If you've ever seen Eddie, he's pretty easy to recognize. As he walked up, I looked at him, at the stage, back at him . . . and a light bulb went off. Everything about the show was Teatro Vista. The writer, the director, the designers, the cast. From what I could tell, being on the outside looking in, the only things that felt like VG were the house and maybe the budget. And the Saints in Sombreros.

The critical response has been wild. Chris Jones is already banging the drum to get it to New York. But nowhere is there any mention of Teatro Vista. They tend to do a lot of co-productions. They've co-produced with VG, the Goodman, Steppenwolf and others. They tend to be brought on to fill the "color slot" at bigger houses. The rarely get the credit they deserve.

Goodman and Collaboraction's El Grito el Bronx, Rivendell's Elliot: A Soldiers Fuge at Steppenwolf; ATC's Living Out; The Goodman's Electricidad; Apple Tree's Two Sisters and a Piano--all Teatro Vista co-productions.

Few culturally specific or inclusive organizations have their own space, so co-producing is a way to stay afloat. Frankly, what bothers me the most about it is the blatant outsourcing of "the color slot" done in a way that manages to keep any credit from the artists making it.

As you might be able to tell I'm a big fan of Vista. I love their work. To my mind, they do some of the best stuff around. They've got a very loyal audience. And you probably haven't heard of their work. Much of it gets lost in the shuffle.

The founding legend of the company, at least as it has been told to me, is pretty wild. in 1989, two really talented actors were in a show at the Goodman. In coconut bras. They realized they were the only two Latinos on the Goodman stage that year. That's a problem. So they founded a company. Things have gotten better in the past twenty years, but there's still a long way to go.

Not too long ago I got a brochure from the Goodman, about their "golden season" subscription package. (I'm pretty sure that was the name, let me know if I'm wrong about it.) It was all shows with brown people in them. Designed to follow up on their footnote that fully one third of their shows in the past decade have featured artists of color. The brochure didn't mention Christmas Carol or Animal Crackers or any of the rest of the season. Only the shows with, ya know, those other folks in them.

The "color slot" is a big problem.

It's an even deeper problem when the color slot is filled by co-productions that leave no mention of the artists doing the "co-." It allows large institutions to continue to receive funding, while outsourcing the color slot in an elaborate way that gives all the credit to the landed institution. I'd assume most of the funding goes that way as well.

To me, there's a pretty simple solution to that. Don't fund the color slot.

Instead give that money to Teatro Vista, Teatro Luna, Congo Square, MPAACT, Albany Park Theatre Project, Teatro Americano, Urban Theatre Comany, People's Theatre of Chicago, Rasaka,or Aguijon Theatre. Or give it to companies who are inclusive in the stories they tell and the artists they work with like Barrel of Monkeys, 16th Street, Lookingglass, Silk Road, Theatre Mir or Halcyon. Or anyone I may have missed.

Stop funding the color-slot and let gravity take effect.

Or at the very least, can we give credit where it is due?



Footnote: Twice I've left a comment on Jones' blog asking "Why is no one mentioning the Teatro Vista side of Chad Diety co-production?"

Neither was posted. With all the nutjob comments they routinely put through, why doesn't that go through?

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